Trish was born in Harlan, Kentucky and studied art and other things at the University of Utah. She continued to pursue her interest in art while attending grad school in English Literature. She was a Lilly Grant artist at Holden Village in 2008 and has continued to teach art in the village.

She says "The more interesting part of my biography is I had a spiritual awakening while I was still in my crib. When I was born 'environmental protection' wasn’t a phrase in use. In that coal mining country, everything was grey with dust from the mines – summer leaves on trees, interior and exterior surfaces painted white, light-colored cars which hadn’t been washed yesterday, and even freshly laundered clothes hung out to dry. I awoke one morning after it had rained hard all night to see bright green spring leaves on the mountainside for the first time in my life. And I knew then that there was something that existed which was bigger than my parents and bigger than that mountain. I don’t deny that I’ve temporarily wandered from this epiphany during desert-like droughts of the soul when I have denied that this memory was so important."